Wedding Photographer Prices Going up ????

Prices will always be different between photographers and between shoots. One weekend I might have an average wedding at $2,200 that includes an Album, second photographer and one medium size canvas print. The next week I may shoot a "low cost" wedding at $1200 that doesn't include the second photographer, Album, and print. One is twice the price, but after the cost of doing business, Net the same income.

I think looking at the NET income per wedding is a bit more accurate than the Customer's order. If you charge 10k for a wedding, but spend $8k on videographers, photographers, Albums, Rentals, etc... then you can't compare the cost to a 2k wedding very fairly.

Other posts are accurate too. 12 years ago gas was under $.99 a gallon, what was it at this summer? About $4.50 if I remember right. A wedding then may have been $500 and now is $$1200; this means it may not have increased enough to cover overhead costs.

I think it comes down to, is the customer happy with their purchase? Some people want to deal with a good business practice and will pay for it. Others just care about how cheap of a deal they got. I talked to a friend (after he was married) and said he got a "great deal." The photographer only charged him $200. I looked at the photos and felt sorry for him, but he was proud of the price and didn't care about the photos. So I was happy for him that he got what made him happy... after all, his album (er... notebook) isn't sitting on MY coffee table, but his.